Meanings
- not comparablearchaeologyMade on or placed on rock surfaces.
In the course of the last decade, a fair number of ancient rupestral (rock-cut) horoi have been published from various sites in southern Attica.
1995, Josiah Ober, “Greek Horoi: Artifactual Texts and the Contingency of Meaning”, in David B. Small, editor, Methods in the Mediterranean: Historical and Archaeological Views on Texts & Archaeology, page 1152 more examples
Having departed from Sardis and before reaching the mnema of Tos, the traveller saw a monument which was either a free-standing pillar or a rupestral tablet, depending on how we interpret the word.^([στήλη (stḗlē)])
1982, William Kendrick Pritchett, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography, page 277Representational art appears in two major categories: rupestral art (as in the paintings of the Palaeolithic caves) and mobiliary art (also called mobile or portable art).
2008, Harald Haarmann, Joan Marler, Introducing the Mythological Crescent: Ancient Beliefs and Imagery connecting Eurasia with Anatolia, page 14 - not comparableConstructed in rock; made of rock.
On the north side of the city, just outside the wall, the rupestral sanctuary of S. Biagio consists of a series of artificial caves or tunnels in the rocky hillside.
2007, Jennifer Larson, Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide, page 821 more example
2011, Ömür Harmaşah, 28: Monuments an Memory: Architecture and Visual Culture in Ancient Anatolian History, Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (editors), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), page 643, The sculpted and columnar rupestral tombs of Achaemenid Paphlagonia, the mountainous Black Sea region west of the Halys (Kızıl Irmak), are equally fascinating in their place-making qualities and their deliberate use of the living rock.
- not comparablebiologyGrowing on rocks.
Among the more notable of these rupestral oceanic and Atlantic bryophytes of acidic rocks are the mosses[…].
2012, Derek Ratcliffe, A Nature Conservation Review, volume 1, page 782 more examples
The rupestral species have been the next class of lichens to suffer from the atmospheric pollution; and the effects are particularly noticeable in the hilly districts in the eastern part of South Lancashire.
1915, The Journal of the Linnean Society: Botany, volume 43, Linnean Society of London, page 93By contrast, in the oak woodland on a steep hillside at Keskadale in Cumberland the occurrence is solely rupestral.
1973, James Holms Dickson, Bryophytes of the Pleistocene, page 123
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecomposed of or inscribed on rock
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinrūpes“rock”
- Englishrupestral
From New Latin rupestris, from Latin rūpes (“rock”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
rupestral. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rupestral
“rupestral.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rupestral. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rupestral,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rupestral.
Source: rupestral on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.